NEW YORK - Pakistan on Thursday denounced an editorial in The New York Times that blamed Pakistan for the continuing war in Afghanistan, stating, it is biased and negates the complex history of this prolonged conflict.

"Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan which is the result of the collective failure of the international community," Pakistani Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani said in a letter sent to the newspaper's editorial board that called Pakistan a "duplicitous and dangerous" partner.

"Allegations of duplicity and double game are extremely painful especially when Pakistan has suffered the most due to war in Afghanistan," the Pakistani envoy said, pointing out that hundreds of suicide bombings and tens of thousands of civilian casualties are the direct result of the US led war in Afghanistan after 9/11.

"Instead of complaining the heavy cost imposed on us due to sustained external intervention in our neighbourhood, Pakistan has consistently cooperated with the US and coalition forces in sharing intelligence and decimating the terror outfits operating from the region," Ambassador Jilani said.

Since 2009, he said, Pakistani forces had been engaged in incremental operations to clear the Pakistani soil from all the terrorist networks concentrated in this area because of the competing interests and mutual rivalries of the big powers. "It is Pakistan's military which 'fractured the back of Taliban' through indiscriminate counter-terrorism operations."

"Instead of putting the entire blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and lack of border management among the underlying reasons for regional instability," the letter said.

"Omitting such fundamental questions that impede a long term solution to the Afghan problem smack partisanship on part of the New York Times."

Pakistan, Ambassador Jilani said, does not benefit from instability in Afghanistan, and wishes Afghans peace and prosperity. Pakistan also played a completely neutral role in the Afghan elections and has offered every possible assistance to the Ghani govt to find a political solution in his country.

The ongoing Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) process involving the US and China besides Pakistan and Afghanistan had rightly agreed that the long-term peace in Afghanistan could only be achieved through reconciliation between the various Afghan stake holders, he said.

"It is imperative that this peace initiative be given a chance to succeed what the war has failed to achieve in the last 15 years," Ambassador Jilani added.

In the editorial, the Times wrote, "Pakistan’s powerful Army and intelligence

services have for years given support to the Taliban and the Haqqani terrorist network and relied on them to protect Pakistani interests in Afghanistan and prevent India from increasing its influence there. Under American pressure, the Pakistan Army recently waged a military campaign against the Taliban in the ungoverned border region. But the Haqqanis still operate in relative safety in Pakistan. Some experts state that the Army has helped engineer the integration of the Haqqanis into the Taliban leadership.

"Pakistan’s double game has long frustrated United State officials, and it has grown worse. There are now efforts in Washington to exert more pressure on the Pakistan Army. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has wisely barred the use of American aid to underwrite Pakistan’s purchase of eight F-16 jet fighters.

Pakistan will still be allowed to purchase the planes, but at a cost of $700 million instead of about $380 million.

"Mr Corker told The Times he would lift the hold on the aid if Pakistan cracks down on the Haqqani network, which he called the “No. 1 threat” to Afghanistan and American troops there.

"President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan is also getting tougher with Pakistan’s leaders. He courted Pakistan for more than a year in the hopes that the Army would bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. But the surge in violence forced him to effectively end negotiations. Last month, he threatened to lodge a complaint with the United Nations Security Council if Pakistan refuses to take military action against Taliban leaders on its soil.

"While such pressure makes sense, severing ties as the United States did in the 1990s after Pakistan developed a nuclear weapon is unwise. The two countries still share intelligence, and Pakistan allows American drones to target militant leaders in the border region. Given that Pakistan has the world’s fastest-growing nuclear arsenal, America needs to be able to maintain a dialogue and help Pakistan keep the weapons out of the hands of extremists."